Sims Metal Management acquires Morley Waste Traders

Sims Metal Management Ltd., with headquarters in Sydney and New York City, has announced the acquisition of the Morley Waste Traders and Lord and Midgley (Morley) businesses, a United Kingdom-based metal recycler with 10 facilities across Yorkshire. With the purchase, Sims will now operate 50 metals recycling facilities across the United Kingdom.

The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed; however, Sims says the purchase price consideration is not material to the company.

Alistair Field, Sims group CEO, says, “Morley’s operations in north England fit strategically with our own current footprint and will be a valuable addition to our Europe Metals business. The acquisition is consistent with our strategy of disciplined growth through complementary bolt-on acquisitions in our core markets.”

Paul Wright, managing director of Europe Metals for Sims, says, “Our acquisition of these businesses is an excellent example of how our U.K. growth strategy is taking shape. Morley’s large ferrous and nonferrous processing facilities will extend our footprint into new markets while offering local businesses competitive solutions to their metal recycling needs. We look forward to welcoming our new colleagues into the Sims UK team.”

Stan Whittaker, managing director of Morley, says, “We are very proud to have spent 58 years building successful metal recycling businesses across the North of England. As a global metal recycling leader, we think Sims Metal Management is the perfect company to take our staff and sites into the future.”

Sims Metal Management is one of the world’s largest metal and electronics recyclers, with more than 250 facilities in 18 countries and more than 4,800 employees.

California assembly member to introduce 'right to repair' legislation for electronics

Susan Talamantes Eggman, a member of the California Assembly, has announced that she will introduce the California Right to Repair Act, which would require manufacturers of electronics to make diagnostic and repair information, as well as equipment or service parts, available to product owners and to independent repair shops.

“The Right to Repair Act will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, a practice that was taken for granted a generation ago but is now becoming increasingly rare in a world of planned obsolescence,” Eggman says.

Repairing and reusing electronics is a more efficient use of the scarce materials that go into manufacturing them and also can stimulate local economies, a news release from Eggman’s office states.

Eggman's proposed legislation has the support of numerous environmental and consumer protection organizations.

“People shouldn’t be forced to ‘upgrade’ to the newest model every time a replaceable part on their smartphone or home appliance breaks,” says Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste, Sacramento, says. “These companies are profiting at the expense of our environment and our pocketbooks as we become a throw-away society that discards over 6 million tons of electronics every year.”

Kit Walsh, senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, says, "The bill is critical to protect independent repair shops and a competitive market for repair, which means better service and lower prices. It also helps preserve the right of individual device owners to understand and fix their own property.”

"Consumers Union thanks Assembly Member Eggman for her efforts to ensure consumers have the choice to fix their own electronic devices or have them fixed by an independent repair servicer,” says Maureen Mahoney, a San Francisco-based policy analyst for Consumers Union. “Consumers are now being forced to go back to the manufacturer for even simple repairs or refurbishing or to throw out the device and buy a new one. We look forward to working with Assembly Member Eggman to secure this important ownership right for consumers."

Emily Rusch, executive director of Sacramento-based CALPIRG, says, “We should be working to reduce needless waste—repairing things that still have life—but companies use their power to make things harder to repair. Repair should be the easier, more affordable choice, and it can be; but, first, we need to fix our laws.”

She adds, “Our recent survey, Recharge Repair, showed a surge in interest in additional repair options after Apple announced battery issues. The Right to Repair Act would give people those options."

A new survey by the Carton Council of North America found 61 percent of respondents reported they always recycle food and beverage cartons, an 11 percent increase from when the survey conducted two years ago. Ninety-four percent of consumers are supportive of recycling. Seventy-four percent believe recycling is important and should be made a priority, and an additional 20 percent think it is somewhat important and people should do what they can to try to recycle.

“It’s reassuring to see positive attitudes toward recycling growing,” Jason Pelz, vice president of recycling projects for the Carton Council of North America and vice president, environment, for Tetra Pak Americas, Denton, Texas, says. “So many companies and organizations have been coming together to make recycling more convenient, efficient and simple in our country, and this affirms that it is having a strong impact.”

The survey asked respondents about their recycling behavior for common recyclables, and the results showed an overall increase in respondents reporting that they always recycle these items. Food and beverage cartons, such as those for milk, juice, broth and soy, are a newer recyclable material in the U.S. recycling stream, and have shown a 61 percent increase of respondents saying they always recycle their food and beverage cartons, up from 50 percent when the survey was last conducted.

“It’s great for us to see consumers taking advantage of the growing availability of carton recycling,” Pelz says. “Today more than 62 percent of American households have access to carton recycling, and we’re excited to continue working with governments, recyclers and many other stakeholders to ensure that every food and beverage carton ends up in a recycling bin and is turned into new, useful products.”

Ninety-four percent of respondents cited environmental or altruistic reasons for recycling, up from 73 percent in 2016. Additionally, consumers have high expectations for the brands they purchase. Fifty-six percent said their loyalty to a food or beverage brand is impacted by the brand’s engagement with environmental causes. The survey also found that consumers expect food and beverage brands to be committed to recycling. Ninety-two percent of respondents said brands should take an active role in helping to increase the recycling of packages, up slightly from 2016.

The survey also reported recycling behaviors broken down by state in two categories:

states that reported recycling of food and beverage cartons most often; and sStates that have the most supportive outlook of recycling.

Rhode Island ranked No. 1 for the number of residents who report recycling their cartons most often and for the most supportive views on recycling.

“Rhode Island was one of the first states to promote universal recycling access back in 1986 and we’re still leading the way,” Jared Rhodes, director of policy and programs at Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corp., Johnston, Rhode Island, says. “We’re pleased our commitment to recycling education has resulted in positive outlooks and actions. We hope Rhode Islanders continue to recycle their cartons in high numbers, as well as the full suite of recyclables accepted in our mixed recycling program.”

The Carton Council formed in 2009 to increase recycling of cartons used to package many food and beverage products, such as milk, juice, water, soups, broth, wine and beans. The Carton Council is composed of Elopak, with U.S. offices in Wixom, Michigan; SIG Combibloc, Chester, Pennsylvania; Evergreen Packaging, Memphis, Tennessee; and Tetra Pak, as well as associate member Nippon Dynawave Packaging, Longview, Washington.

Closed Loop Ocean, announced at the Our Ocean 2017 conference in Malta, is designed to identify, develop and facilitate investments in waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on improving collection, sorting and recycling markets.

Research indicates that nearly half of the plastic that flows into the ocean every year—an estimated 8 million metric tons—escapes from waste streams in just five rapidly developing economies in Asia. As a result, the initiative focuses on galvanizing investment in waste management and recycling solutions in Southeast Asia and India, Closed Loop Partners says.

Over the coming months, Closed Loop Ocean will narrow its geographic focus, define investment criteria, build its network of partners and begin to identify potential investments.

Rob Kaplan, managing director of Closed Loop Partners, says, “Solving the problem of ocean-bound plastics will require significant investment and partnership from brands and supply chain leaders. Partnership with our coalition of companies who have operations in these markets and with PEMSEA, a regional intergovernmental body with local knowledge and experience in SE Asia, will help us bring in additional investors, understand the local market and supply chain dynamics and develop an investment strategy that unlocks the key bottlenecks holding back the recycling system in SE Asia and India.”

In memoriam: James Zozzaro Sr.

James Zozzaro Sr., former owner of New Jersey-based Zozzaro Bros. Recycling Co. and a charter member of the New Jersey Paper Recycling Association, has died, according to an email circulated by the association.